The present invention relates, in general, to field emission displays and, more particularly, to methods and circuits for controlling emission current in the field emission displays.
Field emission displays (FED""s) are well known in the art. A field emission display includes an anode plate and a cathode plate that define a thin envelope. The cathode plate includes a matrix of column conductors and row conductors, which are used to cause electron emission from electron emitter structures such as, Spindt tips. FED""s further include ballast resistors between the electron emitter structures and the cathode plate for controlling the electron emission current. In addition to the desired FED components, a parasitic fringe capacitance is formed between adjacent column conductors. These parasitic fringe capacitances allow cross-talk between adjacent column conductors when one of the column conductors switches from a high impedance state to a high voltage state. The cross-talk may result in a glitch on the column conductor that remains in the high impedance state where the glitch introduces error that appears in the picture appearing on the field emission display.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a method for controlling the adjacent column capacitance in a field emission display, which overcomes at least some of these shortcomings.